BIRD´S VIEW OF BERLIN: ANHALTER BAHNHOF

This is an aerial photo of the old Anhalter Bahnhof whose remains (the by then roofless main hall) were blown up in 1959 after the station – or what was left of it after WW2 – was closed down in 1952.

This picture must have been taken some time before 1933. The houses on the corner of Möckernstrasse and Hallesche Strasse were gone already in 1932: this is where between 1933 and 1937 the biggest (worldwide!) mail sorting posthouse – Postamt SW 11 – was constructed.

What made it truly exceptional in Berlin back in those days was a tunnel that connected it directly with the railway station. In this way, the mail could be picked up directly from the trains and transported to the post office in a convenient and efficient way.

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One comment on “BIRD´S VIEW OF BERLIN: ANHALTER BAHNHOF”

Postamt SW 11 is where my mother worked for many years during the forties and early fifties. When she worked afternoon shift, to 22:00h I went to pick her up, as she suffered from night blindness. We walked home, to Dudenstrasse, through the darkness of the Victoria Park. In winter, when the paths were frozen in the park she took her shoes off and walked in her stockings. Postamt 11 survived the destruction that was all around An halter Bahnhof and Stresemannstrasse. Every sq meter of that part of Kreuzberg bears some memory for me.